The Dune RPG Has A Cover!

Following the recent art preview, Modiphius has shared the cover of their upcoming Dune roleplaying game! This cover art is by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme.

They've also posted the first developer diary - "What is Dune?"

"And now, in Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, you and your friends can explore the planet of Dune as well as the many planets of the Imperium, exploring it through the context of a roleplaying game. The rules contained within this book cover character creation, skills and abilities, personality traits such as drives, equipment, and resolution of conflict, whether interpersonal, hand-to-hand combat, skirmishes, or even political House-based strife. Background information addresses the Imperium, the Landsraad, CHOAM, the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and smaller groups such as the Swordmasters of Ginaz, the Suk School, and the human computers known as Mentats.

As members of your own House of the Landsraad, you can be deadly Swordmasters, Bene Gesserit acolytes, incorruptible Suk-school physicians, brilliant and devious Mentats, enigmatic agents of CHOAM or the Spacing Guild, hardy Fremen, resourceful smugglers, or even nobles with immense political power held in check by duty and responsibility."

 

[MGibster]

I have a crazy idea. How about a Dune campaign but we can only use the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson books as source material?

 

[TrippyHippy]

I have a crazy idea. How about a Dune campaign but we can only use the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson books as source material?

The last attempt at doing a Dune RPG - Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium by Last Unicorn Games (2000) - was released to coincide with Brian Herbert's prequels and, indeed, had a Forward written by Brian Herbert. It was a very limited release though.

 

[univoxs]

Which is prettier, this or Alien. I cannot say.

 

[Dire Bare]

The last attempt at doing a Dune RPG - Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium by Last Unicorn Games (2000) - was released to coincide with Brian Herbert's prequels and, indeed, had a Forward written by Brian Herbert. It was a very limited release though.

I was at Gen Con the year they released that book. Didn't pick it up. Big mistake!

 

[TrippyHippy]

I was at Gen Con the year they released that book. Didn't pick it up. Big mistake!

I did pick it up. Sold it on for about $400. Big mistake.....

 

[aramis erak]

Really? Including WotC and Paizo?

The two companies cover more than 70% of the play numbers on Roll20 and FG with their IP, and D&D 5E is the lion's share of that. Given the need to go online to play is stronger in less popular games, it's quite likely that D&D 5E is seeing well more than the 60% shown in online play via VTT.

Also, noting that D&D 5E was stated to have outsold all other editions by the end of year 2, and all other editions combined by year 4, it's quite likely that it's at least 60% of all RPG sales, with Pathfinder being most of the rest of the 90%.

Hard sales numbers are hard to find, but D&D 5E still tops the ICV2 charts, too... Only during 4th Edition was D&D not the number one on ICV2's list; even then, the first half of 4E's run it STILL trumped Pathfinder.

Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present

This is a compilation of the icv2.com retailer surveys of Top Five Roleplaying Games. They are generally compiled quarterly (with some exceptions). ICv2 notes that "the chart [are] based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers." Thanks to jodyjohnson for sterling...

www.enworld.org

As for Dune, it's not quite stock 2d20... it's made some serious improvements.

 

[Stormonu]

Fading Suns is the best not-Dune RPG I have run across in the past, it used a pretty basic D20 system. I think a Dune RPG would be best set a few decades before Paul appears (about like what Fading Suns does), or perhaps during the Jihad wars shortly after he becomes Emperor.

Since I haven't used a 2d20 system yet, I think if I were going to pick a rule system I did know for Dune I'd use either Alternity or Fate. Maaaybe WEG D6 Space. Definately not a system based on 5E (one that used levels).

 

[aramis erak]

Fading Suns is the best not-Dune RPG I have run across in the past, it used a pretty basic D20 system. I think a Dune RPG would be best set a few decades before Paul appears (about like what Fading Suns does), or perhaps during the Jihad wars shortly after he becomes Emperor.

a d20 lookup on a chart to generate a number of "successes"... I wouldn't exactly call it simple....
The 2nd Rev. Rulebook gives the process...
Goal Number Attribute + Skill + Difficulty/situational modifiers
Roll 1d20 ≤ goal for success/failure
The roll also determines number of successes/victory points: divide the roll by 2, round down.

It's not, however, horribly convoluted.

 

[PRAdams]

I see this sentiment all the time here. Modiphius has a ton of licensed properties that I love but finding positive actual play testimonies seem hard to come by. Do people actually play these games or are they primarily collectors items?

I love Conan 2d20. It makes for great pulp sword & sorcery. Most of the complaints I've heard about the system... Each to his or her own. The Infinity 2d20 system seems like a missed opportunity. The writing is very dense and seems to miss the point of writing rules (to convey as simply as possible the core concepts of a system). I'm not sure why folks in the hobby misunderstand such a simple concept.

 

[aramis erak]

I love Conan 2d20. It makes for great pulp sword & sorcery. Most of the complaints I've heard about the system... Each to his or her own. The Infinity 2d20 system seems like a missed opportunity. The writing is very dense and seems to miss the point of writing rules (to convey as simply as possible the core concepts of a system). I'm not sure why folks in the hobby misunderstand such a simple concept.

I've run STA multiple times. I've playtested Dune, and will run it again, as it solves a part of my issue with 2d20.

That issue exists in Conan and in STA - it's the infrequent but demoralizing case where the dice go against and a stack of more threat and complications pile up that the players realize the GM's out of ideas to hammer them with... or the GM can go killer mode, and snuff their characters with massive overkill. I'm talking a two player party that ended a published module with me having more than 30 threat, and the PC's having essentially spent their ship's crew and damned near provoked a war with the Klingons circa TNG season 3... and the very firm realization that if I had used all the threat, their pyrrhic victory would have been a total loss... It robbed a lot of fun of that adventure.
I've had it happen in several other published adventures, too.
A couple of guys I know have had the same issue... especially with that particular adventure - Doomed to Repeat the Past. It's a good adventure, but it leads to many difficult rolls, and can spiral the threat up fast.

The root of the problem is that there's no limit on players generating threat to do things they could do with their (sometimes non-extant) Momentum. At least, not in STA.

I'll note that Dune playtest sets hard spending limits that neither STA nor Conan have... not on total, but on how many things one can actually do. So, no dumping 10 threat at the GM for +10 damage... because you can't repeat that one.

For STA, if I run it again, I'll set a hard limit of 8 (threat generated+momentum spent) per turn. Just enough to trigger a quality and add 3d20 (for the max 5d20 without help nor computer).